William Logsdail was a versatile and widely traveled landscape and portrait painter, and is most notably remembered for his depictions of Venetian backwaters and atmospheric London street scenes such as his most celebrated work The Ninth of November, 1888 (Guildhall Art Gallery, London). His career took a turn when his portrait of his eldest daughter Mary (b.1894), entitled An Early Victorian (1906, Usher Art Gallery), was proclaimed "The Picture of the Year" after being shown at The Royal Academy in 1907.

Suddenly Logsdail was receiving many requests for portrait commissions and he later recalled 'After that no more rising at dawn, no more searching for models and paying them for their services, no more...